Sweet Painted Soldier
by Nyneve
Summary: Oneshot written for the 30 houshin LJ community. Treize sees dead people...or rather, a dead woman...


**Sweet Painted Soldier**

_"How many people do you think have died for you?!"_

_"Shall I tell you? As of yesterday 99,822 people..."_

_-_Wufei to Treize, Episode 49

_AC 194_

A thirty-by-fifty inch oil painting of the dead woman stood on an easel in the center of the room beside the coffin that had just been closed. It was a fairly new portrait, commissioned a mere three months ago when the woman, dressed here in military uniform with her long black hair tied away from her face in a silk ribbon, had received her final promotion. Not including the posthumous ones, that is.

The room, located in the dead woman's house, was not very crowded. At the funeral tomorrow, yes, there would be many. She'd been a high-ranking officer with many admirers and followers. There would be everyone from recruits to top military men there tomorrow, but tonight was for her closest friends and family.

She had been on display in her coffin for the past hour, laying still with too much makeup on and wearing a red dress that made her look more like a princess than a soldier. Later, she was to be cremated and have her ashes scattered into the depths of space, as was requested in her will. Perhaps it was strange for one so young to have a will, but she had always been a firm believer that one could never have one's affairs in order too soon. That went double if one were in the military, as she and most of the occupants in the room were.

The most impressive of them was a handsome young man, not much older than the woman in the portrait. Flawlessly dressed in full uniform, he had been speaking quietly with some of the other guests, but now made his way to the portrait. He didn't have to say a word; all eyes were upon him, waiting for whatever would come next. Treize had not been made the commander of OZ for nothing.

When the room was dead silent, he spoke, voice resonating warmly from wall to wall. "As you very well know, we have gathered here today in remembrance of a woman who can only be called extraordinary." A perfectly executed pause. "I was asked to say a few words about Rei Hino. This is not an easy task. A few words would never do her justice. But Rei always did appreciate brevity, so I will try my very best."

Treize's eyes met those of the woman in the painting. His, steely blue and hard as nails. Hers, dark and deadly as the farthest reaches of space. _Rei...you probably think this whole thing is ridiculous, don't you?_

He cleared his throat. "It is through the efforts of Rei Hino that OZ is as you see it today. Her firm guidance, as well as generous resources, nurtured our organization the way a gardener nurtures a sapling. She sacrificed her reputation as the daughter of a pacifist family and her status as an aristocrat, because she believed that we could rise above the forces that threaten even now to tear us apart. And on April 17 of this year, on her twenty-fifth birthday, she sacrificed her life when she saved her unit from a group of rebellious colonists who would have otherwise sent ten more good soldiers to their graves. There is no doubt in my mind this was exactly how Rei intended to pass, with honor, dignity, and that fierce burning courage that earned her the nickname that both her friends and comrades knew her as: 'The Goddess of War.' And so, today we celebrate not the sorrow of Rei Hino's death, but the glory of her life."

There was a quiet round of applause in the room, some nods and murmurs of agreement. Treize stepped away from the portrait, rejoining the sober-looking woman standing by the wall, watching him approvingly from bespectacled eyes. "Excellent speech, General," she murmured. He said nothing, only took a glass of wine and cast his eyes towards the front of the room as the next speaker, a skinny little girl with blond pigtails who had been a soldier under the dead woman, delivered a weepy address that made Treize's words seem about a sentimental as a drink order at a dive bar.

Secretly, Treize was pleased. Rei hated such slush. If the girl's speech made his seem cold as ice, Rei would have enjoyed it all the more.

Actually, now that he thought about it, Rei had often berated this particular young pilot about being overly emotional on the battlefield. But despite her lectures, Treize knew this girl had been one of the soldiers the dead woman had died protecting.

There were a few more speakers, most delivering rehashed, equally-teary eulogies that echoed the blond girl's. Treize listened politely, but refused to shed one tear, refused to even look sad. It was easier with Lady Une beside him; she rarely showed emotion of any kind, and hadn't known the dead woman well enough to feel any sense of loss with her death, aside from the fact that a useful officer was no longer at OZ's disposal.

The informal service lasted only about twenty minutes. When it was over, the occupants of the room drifted out one by one, until only Treize, his comrade, and one of the dead woman's cousins, who'd organized the event and was now cleaning up the tables and putting away the chairs, were left. Lady Une was moving towards the door, pausing to glance back expectantly at her superior.

"I'll be along in a few minutes, Lady Une. If you don't mind..."

"Of course not, General. I'll be in the car." She exited the room. The cousin who was cleaning up the chairs finished, then vanished into another room, leaving Treize alone.

He moved slowly towards the oil painting, touching the the cheek that looked smooth as a river stone but was textured with the colors necessary to bring a painted woman to life. _Rei_... She'd been so young, so beautiful, so strong. Treize had always known death was the product of war, not to mention illness, carelessness, fate, and life itself. But still, it was a tragedy.

"Might I ask what you're doing?"

Treize knew the voice, but he turned around anyways, convinced he'd heard wrong. But of course, he hadn't. Rei Hino was standing before him, natural as can be, dressed in her uniform with her long hair tied back the way it always was before she went into battle, arms crossed over her chest and looking somewhat annoyed.

His eyes widened. Treize Khushrenada was not a man who knew fear, or at least, was not a man who showed it. And right now, it was not fear he felt, exactly. She couldn't be a ghost. This was a hallucination, most likely, brought on by his own grief and the stress of her passing. Was he going mad? No, that was not something he could afford right now. This was not real.

Sensing his turmoil, the dead woman took a step forward. "General, open the coffin," she said gently, pointing to the long black box on the trestle beside the portrait. He said nothing, didn't even move. Rei let out a huffy breath. "Fine."

She didn't move like a ghost. Her feet were on the floor, he could hear the sound of her boots on the hardwood planks beneath her. There _was _a slightly translucent look about her, he had to admit. But her hand did not go through the coffin when her gloved fingers curled around the edge. It held tight and lifted the lid, revealing a lifeless doppelganger sleeping on scarlet silk.

"There, you see? Dead as a doornail," she snapped. "And by the way, I blame you."

The three words snapped him back to reality. God, it was real. The ghost of Rei Hino was here, ready to take revenge for the death she'd found under his command. i_How does one fight a ghost?i _Treize wondered. He did have his sword at his side, and she looked solid enough to stab, but she was already dead...

"I've always hated that dress," Rei murmured, plucking disapprovingly at the clinging fabric. "I look like a street whore. And the makeup doesn't help. You should've seen to it that I went to rest in a soldier's uniform. But thanks to you, General, I'll be taken just about as seriously as a soldier as Marilyn Monroe."

"Wait..." Ah, his voice. It did still exist. "You meant the dress? You don't blame me for..."

She blinked a moment, then gave him a wry grin. "For the fact I'm in there in the first place?" Raising a graceful hand, she closed the coffin's lid. "What a stupid question. You really think that little of me?" Stepping away, she moved to the window, then turned around. She was downright transparent now, light shining through her skin, her uniformed body, her eyes illuminated like two penlights. "I lived and died as a soldier, Treize. I knew that death was a part of the package. And I am proud I was able to save the lives of the soldiers under me with my death."

"I'm very proud as well, Rei. And believe me when I say you are going to be remembered as a hero when you go in the ground tomorrow, no matter what you're wearing," he answered solemnly.

She smiled, just as lovely in death as she had been in life. "You're too kind, General."

Treize couldn't explain it, but he found himself smiling back. It was like she had never passed at all, they were sitting here talking, just as they had at his own country house when they were young, before they were soldiers. Or when she was in his office when he'd been made Commander of OZ. There were even parallels to those few, scattered nights when, for no reason at all, she would appear in his bedroom wearing nothing but a loosely tied red kimono, which would fall to the ground before she slipped into bed beside him and made burning love to him that never compared to any of the other women he'd been with.

"Rei..." he murmured. "Why are you here?" Treize had decided, upon seeing her smile, that this was indeed the ghost of his dead friend, lover, comrade. He wanted it to be true. He wanted to be with whatever was left of Rei Hino more than he wanted a hallucination or a breakdown. But if she really was a ghost, then there had to be a reason for her visit. Ghosts didn't just show up to complain about being buried in a dress, not even Rei's ghost. There must have been a message she was supposed to deliver, maybe even a warning.

Her smile disappeared. "Treize...I came to say goodbye. The circumstances when I left..."

Yes, he remembered clearly. A message, nothing more. _Commander--I am taking three units to L3 to deal with the rebels. Reporting more later._ That was all. There could not have been a more impersonal farewell.

"I understand, Rei. But we'll see each other again, eventually..."

She shook her head. "I don't believe that, General. You're a man of God, that's true, but here I am. I have not seen one other person like myself--" _Dead_--she didn't have to say it out loud "--here. And I can't help but feel like there's somewhere I'm supposed to go beyond this. Maybe your bible is right. Maybe this is Purgatory, and I'm just waiting to go to either Heaven or Hell. I think that if either one exists, then we might indeed meet again. I doubt you're any better or worse of a person than I am, so wherever I end up, you'll be there too. But if there's something more than that, something beyond Heaven and Hell and God and Purgatory..."

Treize reached for her hands. The gloves felt like gloves, nothing unusual, but something about the fingers and hands inside them wasn't natural. Wasn't _right_. He let go, but his eyes never left hers. "I have faith, Rei. This will not be the last time we meet." Treize paused. "Wait."

She raised an eyebrow. "Wait?"

"Wait for me. Wherever it is you're supposed to go beyond this, don't go yet. I have a feeling I'm not far behind you, so if you wait, I'll find you. We can go together."

Rei's eyes were thoughtful. "So you feel it too, the approach of your own death. I thought I did, before I died. Actually, I'd been feeling it since Christmas, but I thought..."

Treize shook his head. "It could be a while yet, for me. But my affairs are in order. Or at least, they were..."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I named you as my successor."

Were ghosts supposed to look confused and surprised? In literature, they were all-knowing, all-seeing. But the ghost of Rei Hino looked absolutely shocked at this latest revelation. "You were going to put me in charge of OZ? General..."

"It was a logical choice. You've been a member of Romefellar for years. You're an excellent soldier, a shrewd negotiator, and a brilliant strategist. They used to call you the Goddess of War, remember?"

"But still...what about Zechs Marquise? Lady Une?"

"If I had named either of them, they would have torn the other apart. That or Romefellar would have them killed. It's going to be difficult to find a replacement for you, Rei. But you always did present me with challenges. It's only expected you would leave me one in death as well," he smiled slightly.

Rei, however, looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, General. If I had known..."

"You probably would still have died. Don't apologize. In fact, with a little luck, my position will become obsolete by the time of my death. I won't even need a successor." He was beside her, his eyes cast out the window at the sun that was almost completely beneath the horizon, deep in thought.

"You think peace will come so soon?" Her strangely luminous eyes followed his.

"It won't be easy. The battles will get worse before they get better. But something was reported to me on the day of your death. A new type of Mobile Suit was scene at A0206. It was made of Gundamium. You remember the intelligence we've been gathering?"

"A Gundam."

"Yes. Space is about to unleash its wrath. We are going to see some of the greatest battles of our age soon, but at the end I believe both sides will be too exhausted to fight any longer. Then we will have no choice but to have peace," Treize remarked. He closed his eyes. "But until then...we will revel in the battle more than ever."

Rei was silent a moment. "I wish I could be a part of it."

He smiled, then leaned forward and kissed her lips. They felt like dry ice.

"Just watch, Rei."


End file.
